Coldplay also releases new disc

“You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows,” but these days, a guide through the seemingly endless flurry of pop culture offerings is just what we need. With that in mind, here is what’s on the radar screen in TV, music and film for the coming week.

MOVIES

Big Release: Krampus on Dec. 4

Big Picture: “He sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake. He knows when you’ve been stabbed … because he stabbed you … with his claws.” Oh Krampus, he certainly puts a damper on the Yuletide spirit. The demonic figure from German folklore gets top billing in this holiday horror-comedy. “Santa’s shadow” — a dark spirit that punishes non-believers and the misbehaved — is unleashed upon one unlucky, bickering family on Christmas Eve. Adam Scott and Toni Collette play the family heads tasked with fending off the hulking humbug.

And those hoof beats they hear on the roof? Not reindeer. Krampus has cloven hoofs, too! Am I the only one who hopes they remake White Christmas: Krampus, in which he pays an unexpected visit to a struggling ski lodge run by an old general? Or what about The Krampus Clause, starring Tim Allen? Nightmare on 34th Street, anyone? The possibilities for festive fear are endless.

Forecast: If you’re dreaming of a red Christmas, you’re in luck. But be good for goodness sake. Krampus is more of a taker than a giver.

Big Picture: Finally the Christmas musical variety show we’ve all been waiting for (with insincere apologies to the likes of Michael Bublé and Blake Shelton). Everyone’s favourite craggy-faced, curmudgeonly comedian, Bill Murray, hosts his own meta musical-variety show! Even better? It’s helmed by his Lost in Translation director Sofia Coppola. Murray plays himself as he prepares to host an international TV special in New York on the cusp of a major snowstorm.

Will he get drunk? Yes. Will he swear? Of course. Will his celebrity guests still arrive in the blizzard? Totally. (Everyone in Hollywood loves Murray, too.) The star-studded cast features George Clooney, Amy Poehler, Chris Rock, Miley Cyrus, and Canucks Paul Shaffer and Michael Cera — who calls Murray’s event a “Christ-mess special.”

That might be true, but you want this one to be a little dirty. Meanwhile, the meta trend continues in Real Rob, a scripted comedy starring Rob Schneider. He plays am even sadder-sack version of himself. From Louie to Joey, at this point every comedian seems so dead set on playing fictional versions of themselves, that we might as well give up on creating new characters altogether. Former Saturday Night Live pals like David Spade and Norm Macdonald appear as regulars (again, as themselves).

Forecast: Murray’s special is the only gift I need this year. Though I also would have gladly accepted A Very Murray Krampus Christmas in which demon and comedian form an unlikely duo — an unstoppable combination of razor-sharp wit and razor-sharp claws

This one is for those who’ve always wondered what it would be like to see Queen Latifah play the Wizard of Oz in a live musical production. Why? Hmmm. To quote a certain fresh-faced prime minister: “Because it’s 2015,” I guess? Common, Ne-Yo, and Mary J. Blige co-star.

MUSIC

Big Release: Coldplay (A Head Full of Dreams), on Dec. 4

Big Picture: Have you ever pondered what Drake and Oasis might sound like together? Coldplay seeks to answer that mysterious question on their seventh studio album. Those are two of the influences frontman Chris Martin recently cited in Rolling Stone. He also calls it “quite a hippie album.” The effort finds the post-divorce Martin embracing uplifting themes, drum loops and dance-floor worthy numbers — essentially, the exact opposite of 2014’s melancholy Ghost Stories. Even “consciously uncoupled” ex-wife Gwyneth Paltrow shows up with backing vocals on the ballad Everglow. Noel Gallagher (guitar), and Beyoncé (vocals), also make guest appearances. Oh, and there’s also a spoken-word poem by a 13th-century Persian poet named Rumi. Huh?

Forecast: Track titles include Amazing Day, Fun and Hymn for the Weekend. This one might be too much Kumbaya for Coldplay fans. It could have used a Martin-Krampus duet.

Honourable Mention: Babyface (Return of the Tender Lover), on Dec. 4.

R&B singer Babyface tries to bring back sexy in an era of blurred lines.